Lead Marketplace System and Method with Lead Auctions

ABSTRACT

A lead marketplace system and method are provided. The lead marketplace system and method provides an auction for leads.

PRIORITY CLAIM/RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims priority under 35 USC 119(e) to U.S. ProvisionalPatent Application Ser. Nos. 60/958,884 filed on Jul. 9, 2007 andentitled “System for Implementing an Open Auction Marketplace for Opt-inConsumer Leads, and 61/021,292 filed on Jan. 15, 2008 and entitled “LeadMarketplace System and Method”, both of which are incorporated herein byreference.

This application is also related to U.S. patent application Ser. Nos.______ filed on ______ and entitled “Lead Marketplace System and Methodwith Ping Campaigns” and ______ filed on ______ and entitled “LeadMarketplace System and Method with Ratings System”.

FIELD

The system and method relate to a lead marketplace system and methodthat may be used for various different types of leads.

BACKGROUND

One of the many uses of the Internet is to connect customers who arecontemplating a transaction with one or more service providers who wantto compete for their business. A Lead consists of contact informationand other information about a transaction that a customer is interestedin, collected from a customer who has requested information about apossible transaction or has asked to be put in touch with a ServiceProvider. Leads are fungible products that are sold to one or moreService Providers (“Lead Buyers”). Leads are not purchase requests perse, rather they consist of the information necessary for a ServiceProvider to contact a customer in an effort to acquire the customer'sbusiness.

Today, it is difficult to efficiently price and distribute Leads asthere is a great amount of variability amongst Lead Buyers in the valuethey place on a Lead based on local market factors, characteristics ofthe customer, time of month, and their current ability to service thebusiness. In one market for Leads, there may be 100,000 Lead Buyersspread across the country. If a company that captures, or “Generates”Leads sets prices for the Leads, either on a per-lead basis or through asubscription, this pricing will not reflect the value of each individualLead to the buyer. The impact of this disparity between price and valueto the buyer results in two things: 1) Leads that are overpriced that donot sell; and 2) Leads that are underpriced that sell at less than theoptimal price. So, Lead Generators are faced with a situation where theygenerate no revenue from overpriced Leads while not generating as muchmoney as they could from underpriced Leads.

Thus, it is desirable to provide a lead marketplace system and methodthat overcomes these problems of conventional systems and it is to thisend that the system and method are directed.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates an example of a computer system Web-basedimplementation of a lead marketplace system;

FIG. 2 illustrates an example of a Lead Buyer campaign creation workflowimplemented in the lead marketplace system shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 illustrates an example of a Lead Seller campaign creationworkflow implemented in the lead marketplace system shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 illustrates an example of a lead upload workflow implemented inthe lead marketplace system shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 illustrates an example of a lead auction workflow implemented inthe lead marketplace system shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 6 illustrates an example of an auction workflow implemented in thelead marketplace system shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 7 illustrates an example of auction logic in the lead marketplacesystem shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 8 illustrates an example of an auctioneer process system functionflow implemented in the lead marketplace system shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 9 illustrates an example of a lead rating workflow implemented inthe lead marketplace system shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 10 illustrates an example of a buyer information workflowimplemented in the lead marketplace system shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 11 illustrates an example of a seller information workflowimplemented in the lead marketplace system shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 12 illustrates an example of a buying campaign management workflowimplemented in the lead marketplace system shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 13 illustrates an example of a selling campaign management workflowimplemented in the lead marketplace system shown in FIG. 1; and

FIG. 14 illustrates a ping campaign duplication detection processworkflow of the implemented in the lead marketplace system shown in FIG.1.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF ONE OR MORE EMBODIMENTS

The system and method are particularly applicable to a Web-based leadmarketplace system and method and it is in this context that the systemand method will be described. It will be appreciated, however, that thesystem and method has greater utility since it may be implemented indifferent manners, may be based on different architectures and is notlimited to the particular types of leads described below. In particular,the lead marketplace system and method may be used to buy and sellvarious types of leads including leads for goods purchases or leads forservices.

FIG. 1 illustrates an example of a computer system Web-basedimplementation of a lead marketplace (LMP) system 20. The leadmarketplace system brings Lead Buyers (Lead Buyers) 22 and Lead Sellers(Lead Sellers) 24 together in a way that efficiently prices Leads sothat they sell at the market-efficient price while minimizing the LeadSeller's operating costs. The Leads may include any type of leadsincluding, but not limited to, consumer leads business to businessleads. The Lead Buyer and Lead Seller may be coupled to the LMP systemover a link 26, such as the Internet or any other communications orcomputer network whether wired or wireless, to a LMP user interface unit28, such as a server computer in one embodiment, that executes computercode to generate and provide the user interfaces to the Lead Buyer 22and Lead Seller 22 who each access the LMP system 20 using a computingdevice that executes a browser application that displays Web pages tothe Lead Buyer and the Lead Seller. Each computing device may be aprocessing unit based device with sufficient processing power, memoryand connectivity to interact with the LMP system as described belowwherein each computing device may be, for example, a personal computer,a laptop computer, a smart telephone, a terminal, a mobile phone, awireless email device, etc.

A lead is a set of information about a customer who may purchase aproduct or service wherein the lead can be generated in variousdifferent manners. For example, a lead (including Lead which is contactand transaction information that might lead to the acquisition of acustomer for a product or service) may be a person who is looking for aplumber in the Reno, Nev. area to perform a particular task, a personlooking for a mortgage of $500,000 with a 520 credit rating and livingin Livermore, or a person who wants to purchase a new Mazda RX-8 in theBoston area who is willing to spend $X. Each of these is a differenttype of lead and the LMP system can be used with any type of lead.

A Lead Buyer is an entity (individual, corporation, etc) who is willingto pay a certain price for a quantity of a particular type of lead for aparticular good or service. Examples of Lead Buyers are a mortgagebroker who is willing to pay for leads for people looking for mortgagesin a certain geographic area or a plumber who is willing to pay forleads to people nationally who need to have their houses re-piped. EachLead Buyer may have one or more buyer campaigns wherein each buyercampaign provides the parameters of the leads desired (such as the typesof the leads, the number of leads, time period for the leads, the budgetfor the leads over the time period, geographic area, etc.) that are ofinterest to the Lead Buyer. A Lead Seller is an entity (individual,corporation, etc) who wants to sell a particular type of lead for aparticular good or service, such as a company that runs a mortgageadvice Website and collects mortgage leads. Each Lead Seller may haveone or more seller campaigns wherein each seller campaign provides ameans of grouping and tracking particular leads over time for thepurpose of attributing leads to the appropriate Lead Seller and trackingthe quality of the leads sold.

The LMP system 20 may further comprise an LMP lead unit 30, such as oneor more server computers that execute computer code in oneimplementation, that accepts and stores new leads, an LMP auctionmanager 36, such as one or more server computers that execute computercode in one implementation, that perform the auctioning process of theLMP system as described below in more detail. The LMP system maycommunicate with a seller lead unit 32, such as one or more servercomputers that execute computer code in one implementation, thatinterfaces with and stores third party leads to be sold, a third partyvalidation unit 34, such as one or more server computers that executecomputer code in one implementation, that validates third party leads,and a third party buyer ping unit 38, such as one or more servercomputers that execute computer code in one implementation, thatimplements a ping campaign as is described below in more detail. The LMPsystem 20 may further comprise a consumer rating unit 40, such as one ormore server computers that execute computer code in one implementation,that provide a rating process of the LMP system as described in moredetail below.

The LMP system 20 may further include one or more storage units, such asdatabase tables in one implementation of the system that store data andare accessed by the various units of the system as described above. Thesystem 20 may thus comprise a seller lead database 50 that stores thirdparty seller leads and interacts with the lead unit 30, a sellercampaign table 52 that stores a plurality of Lead Seller campaigns for aplurality of Lead Sellers in the LMP system as described below and aseller account table 54 that stores account information about eachseller in the LMP system. In one embodiment, the seller account tablemay include an Object ID field, Identification Fields, a Login field, aPassword field, and Payment Information fields and the seller campaigntable may include an Object ID field, a Seller ID field, a User DefinedName field, a Collection Method field and a Quality Rating field. TheLead Seller campaigns enable the Lead Sellers to track the performanceof different variations of Leads generated using different methods.

The LMP system may further comprise a buyer campaign table 56 thatstores a plurality of Lead Buyer campaigns for a plurality of LeadBuyers in the LMP system as described below and a lead type table 58that stores the different types of leads (such as mortgages, plumbers,autos, etc.) and the characteristics, or filters, for the differenttypes of leads (such as mortgage amount, property type and houselocation for the mortgage leads or house location and type of plumbingwork for a plumbers leads, or automobile make and model for automobileleads). In one embodiment, the lead type table may include an Object IDfield, a Name field, a Sharing Allowed field, and XML Schema (Field 1,Field 2, Field 3 . . . ) fields, and the buyer campaign table mayinclude an Object ID field, a Buyer ID field, a User Defined Name field,a Lead Type field, Location Fields, a Max Age field, a Min Qualityfield, Type-Specific Filter Fields, Bid Amount field and Sharing Levelfield(s), an Activity Status field, a Bid Type field, a Ping Type fieldand a Ping URL field.

The LMP system 20 may further include a Lead table 60 that interfaceswith the LMP lead unit 30 and the LMP auction manager 36 and storesinformation about each Lead in the LMP system and a validating ratingstable 62 that interfaces with the LMP lead unit 30 and storesinformation about the validating ratings of the leads. In oneembodiment, the Lead table may include an Object ID field, a Ping IDfield, a Seller Campaign ID field, an Auction Thread ID field, a LeadType field, Consumer Contact Information fields, a Generated Timestampfield, an Actual Payout field and a Sold Timestamp field. The LMP system20 may further comprise one or more lead auction threads 64 wherein alead auction thread is created for each lead as described below in moredetail. The LMP system 20 may further comprise a buyer account table 66that interfaces with the LMP auction manager 36 and stores informationabout each of the Lead Buyers in the LMP system and a lead leg soldtable 68 that interfaces with the LMP auction manager 36 and storesinformation about the leads that are sold in the LMP system to eachindividual Lead Buyer. In one embodiment, the buyer account table mayinclude an Object ID field, Identification Fields, a Login field, aPassword field and Billing Information fields, and the lead leg soldtable may include an Object ID field, a Lead ID field, a Buyer CampaignID field, a Lead Type field, Consumer Contact Information fields, aGenerated Timestamp field, a Price Paid field and a Bought Timestampfield.

In addition to the tables shown in FIG. 1, the LMP system 20 further mayinclude a number of other tables including a lead ping table, a leadpost table, a buyer campaign ping table, a budget table and a bid table.The lead ping table stores information about a ping (a conditional bidfor a particular type of lead that fits certain parameters) and mayinclude an Object ID field, a Seller Campaign ID field, a Lead Typefield, a Last Name field, a Phone Suffix field, a Zip Code field,Type-Specific Field Values fields, a Generated Timestamp field and aMinimum Payout field. The lead post table that stores information abouta lead that has been posted for sale by a Lead Seller and may include anObject ID field, a Ping ID field, a Seller Campaign ID field, a LeadType field, Consumer Contact Information fields, XML Type-Specific FieldValues, a Generated Timestamp field and a Posted Timestamp field. Thebuyer campaign ping table stores information about one or more pingcampaigns (described below) for one or more Lead Buyers and may includean Object ID field, a Buyer Campaign ID field, a Lead Type field, a LastName field, a Phone Suffix field, a Zip Code field, Type-Specific FieldValues fields and a Generated Timestamp field. The budget table storesinformation about a budget for either a buyer campaign or a lead buyeraccount and may include an Object ID field, a Level field, a Level IDfield, a Dollar Amount field, a Number of Leads field and a Timeframefield. The budget may specify the maximum number of leads and/or themaximum amount of money to spend on leads during one or more timeperiods and the budget may be associated with a particular buyingcampaign or with a particular Lead Buyer account. Because the balancesof these budgets will change over time as the Budget timeframes expireor Lead Buyers modify the budget settings, the active auction approachenables these changes to be reflected in the auction outcome,potentially increasing the price paid for a Lead.

The bid table may store the bids from the plurality of Lead Buyersassociated with the LMP system and may include an Object ID field, anAuction Thread ID field, a Campaign ID field, an Amount field, a MaxSharing field and Filters Matched fields.

The LMP system shown in FIG. 1 depicts Internet companies that collect,or “Generate” a wide variety of Leads to sell them to one or more LeadBuyers in an auction format. This auction format ensures that a volumeof Leads from multiple Lead Sellers is priced and sold efficiently tomaximize yield to the Lead Seller while giving control of the Leadpurchase to the Lead Buyer. The system uses a unique method to matchLeads with Lead Buyers, enabling the Lead Buyer to specify the location,type, characteristics, and quality of Leads they would like to purchaseeither through a standing order called a “Buying Campaign” or inreal-time through a “Live Bidding” user interface. Thus, for aparticular lead sold through the LMP, both buying campaigns (pre-set byone or more Lead Buyers) as well as the live bidding (by the same LeadBuyers with the buying campaigns or other Lead Buyers) may occur so thateach lead is priced and sold efficiently. Thus, rather than simplyselling the Lead based on information that is stored in the system, theLMP creates an Active Auction process that runs for a defined period oftime and allows other means of participating in the auction. Like manyauction-based system the LMP determines to which Buyer to sell the Leadbased on which Buyer or combination of Buyers that offers the highestprice.

Each buying campaign is set up by a Lead Buyer (where each Lead Buyercan have one or more buying campaigns) and allows the Lead Buyer of thatbuying campaign to specify certain parameters that are used to identifyleads that are of interest to the particular Lead Buyer as well asselecting the method for entering the Lead Buyer's bid into each leadauction. For example, the buying campaign enables the Lead Buyer to: 1)specify the price and budgets for buying Leads in a “Fixed BuyingCampaign”; and/or 2) provide instructions for the LMP system to make aserver-to-server request for a price the Lead Buyer is willing to payfor each Lead that enters the system in a “Ping Buying Campaign”. ThisPing Buying Campaign is useful since many Lead Buyers will have systemsthrough which they will resell the Lead to another Buyer. Thus, the PingBuying Campaign allows the Lead Buyer, through their servers, to receivea notification that a lead matches the ping buying campaign parameters,to check for demand for the Lead in their system prior to committing toa price to pay to acquire the Lead, and then to provide a bid for theLead in response to the notification.

The LMP system 20 enables the simultaneous pricing of a lead todifferent numbers buyers who will “share” the lead, and then the LMPsystem sells the lead to the group of buyers who generate the highestrevenue for a lead. The LMP associates bid with each campaign, and eachbid specifies a dollar amount and maximum number of other buyers toshare the lead with (the “Sharing Field”). There can be a plurality ofbids associated with one buyer campaign, each with a different sharinglevel. To allow the sharing, Lead Buyers do not need to do anythingother than specify how much they are willing to pay for a maximum levelof sharing, and the system groups these bids together. The sharingfields above allow the LMP system to support multiple levels of sharingand multiple bids from a single Lead Buyer. For example, one embodimentof the invention might have a user interface that enables a Lead Buyerto create a buyer campaign that specifies a bid of $20 if there is nosharing, $17 if the lead can be shared with one other buyer, $14 if thelead can be shared with two other buyers, etc so that the LMP system canbe set up to allow a Lead Buyer to enter different bid amounts for leadsto be shared amongst a maximum of 1, 3, 5, 6, or 10 Lead Buyers. The LMPsystem user interface dictates what values can be entered for sharing byan individual Lead Buyer, but the backend system will clear leads to thegroup of Lead Buyers that generate the highest return based on anysharing value bid that is in the system. Depending on how the Lead Typeis set up in the system (e.g., the amount of sharing that is allowed forthe particular lead type, such as sharing with a maximum of two buyersfor automobile leads or sharing with a maximum of 4 buyers withmortgages), the user interface controls what can be entered by the LeadBuyer. At any time, the LMP system provides complete flexibility in thenumber of buyers that can be grouped together and compared to determinethe highest value group of buyers. In other words, the LMP system willprocess whatever sharing level has been saved in the system(theoretically every single sharing increment up to thousands issupported), supporting any user interface design for controlling theLead Buyer input of bids for sharing levels.

Since many Lead Sellers have systems used to manage the Leads that theygenerate, the LMP system supports multiple methods for entering Leadsinto the system for Sale. As shown in FIG. 1, Lead Sellers can set uptheir HTML Web forms to be submitted to the LMP directly by thecustomer. In addition, Lead Sellers that collect Leads and save them ontheir own systems that can send the Leads to the LMP system in aserver-to-server exchange called a Server Post. The LMP system alsomakes it easier for Lead Sellers to Post Leads to the system by allowingthem to map the fields in their tables to the fields in the LMP systemfor each Lead Type. By so doing, the LMP system eliminates the need forthe Lead Seller to make significant modifications to their datastructures in order to sell their Leads.

Since Lead Sellers may have established relationships with multiplepartners that buy Leads, the LMP allows Lead Sellers to make aserver-to-server request for a payout quote prior to selling the Leadthrough the LMP. This type of price quote request is called a “Ping”,and it contains enough information about the Lead to enable the LMP torun an Active Auction on the Lead, without including enough informationto enable the LMP to actually sell the Lead. If the Lead Seller systemdetermined that the payout amount is acceptable, the system can thencomplete a Server Post of the Lead.

Different Lead Sellers use different techniques in generating Leads. Asa result, the ease with which the resulting Lead can be turned into acustomer varies from one Lead Seller to another. The measure of the easewith which a Lead can be converted to a customer is referred to as the“Quality” of the Lead. Differences in Quality affect the value of theLead to the Lead Buyer. The LMP uses a unique combination of measures toestablish a Quality Rating for each Lead entered into the system. TheLMP combines three factors to calculate a real-time Quality Rating foreach Selling Campaign in the LMP: 1) ratings provided by the LeadBuyers, 2) A rating from a third-party validation service, and 3) Theresults of a survey of the customer. Any Lead that enters the system isassociated with one Selling Campaign and inherits the Quality Rating ofthat Selling Campaign. Rather than tie these Quality Ratings to the LeadSeller account directly, the LMP uses the Selling Campaign system objectto enable one Lead Seller to deliver Leads of varying quality.

Once a Lead is sold, the LMP creates “Lead Leg” records in the lead legtable for each of the Lead Buyers. These Lead Leg records are associatedwith the Lead, which is associated with the Selling Campaign, which isassociated with the Seller Account. The Lead Buyer accesses his or herown Lead Leg in the LMP, and the Buyer Rating, entered by the Lead Buyerthrough the LMP Buyer user interface, is stored in the Lead Leg record.Now, the Lead Buyer campaign creation and Lead Seller campaign creationare described in more detail.

FIG. 2 illustrates an example of a Lead Buyer campaign creation workflowimplemented in the lead marketplace system shown in FIG. 1, and FIG. 3illustrates an example of a Lead Seller campaign creation workflowimplemented in the lead marketplace system shown in FIG. 1. As shown inthese figures, a Lead Buyer or Lead Seller can, using the link 26,access the LMP user interface unit 28 and create a new lead buyingcampaign that is stored in the buyer campaign table 56, the buyercampaign bid table 56 a and the buyer campaign budget table 56 b, orcreate a new lead selling campaign that is stored in the seller campaigntable 52, respectively. In one embodiment, the Lead Buyer or Lead Sellercan access the LMP system using a typical Web browser application byentering the appropriate user identified and password. The LMP systempresents the Lead Buyer with a series of pages that enable the LeadBuyer to specify (as shown in FIG. 2) the type of Lead to purchase, thelocation of the Lead, the characteristics of the Lead, the biddingmethod (fixed versus Ping), the bids (including the max sharing numberand/or bid amount) and the Budgets in dollar amount and number of Leadsfor different timeframes. The LMP system presents the Lead Seller with aseries of pages that enable them to specify the method they are using tocapture Leads and associate the data with a seller account ID, acampaign ID as shown in FIG. 3.

Based on the Lead Type selected when creating a Buying Campaign, theLead Buyer will be presented with the relevant lead characteristics thatare associated with that type of leads. For example, if the Lead Buyeris purchasing Plumbing Service Leads, he or she might be asked tospecify the type of job requested and whether it is for emergencyservice. If the Lead Buyer is purchasing Mortgage Service Leads, he orshe might be asked to specify the loan amount and type of home amongother mortgage-related criteria. The LMP has a Lead Type Table thatstores the appropriate data schema and selection values for each type ofLead.

FIG. 4 illustrates an example of a lead upload workflow implemented inthe lead marketplace system shown in FIG. 1. There are two main methodsused by Lead Generators to enter, or “Post”, Leads into the LMP systemincluding: 1) direct posting in the LMP system and 2) delivering leadsfrom the third party leads database. In the direct posting method, acustomer on a computing device can access the an HTML Web page thatcollects the appropriate lead information and performs an HTTP Postdirectly to the LMP (the LMP lead unit 30). The lead Generators cancreate the form themselves or make a request to the LMP system to servea lead collection form to the customer for them. Alternatively, the LeadGenerator can collect the Lead information themselves (using their ownthird party seller Web server 70 which is accessed by the customer overthe link), and then the Lead Generator can store the information intheir own database system. Once they have stored the Lead, the LeadGenerator can use one of several methods to Post the Lead to the LMPsystem through a server-to-server connection, for example, through anHTTP POST or a Web Service. Prior to Posting the Lead to the LMP system,the Lead Generator has the option to send a pricing request for the leadcalled a “Ping” wherein the lead generator sends a limited amount ofinformation about the Lead to the LMP to determine the payout they willreceive for the Lead. Then, based on the response from the LMP, the LeadGenerator can decide whether or not to Post the Lead to the LMP forsale.

FIG. 5 illustrates an example of a lead auction workflow implemented inthe lead marketplace system shown in FIG. 1. In addition, FIG. 6illustrates an example of an auction workflow implemented in the leadmarketplace system shown in FIG. 1, FIG. 7 illustrates an example ofauction logic in the lead marketplace system shown in FIG. 1 and FIG. 8illustrates an example of an auctioneer system function flow implementedin the lead marketplace system shown in FIG. 1.

The LMP system has an “Auctioneer” process that creates an auctionprocess (“Auction Thread”) for each individual Lead Ping (a proposal topost a lead if there is sufficient demand) or Post (a lead for sale)received from a valid Seller Campaign. This Auction Thread 64 receivesbids from the “Bid Manager”, “Budget Manager”, or “Campaign Manager”processes and identifies the set of Lead Buyers who will purchase theLead, calculates the amount of money to be paid to the Lead Seller, andcreates Lead Leg Sold records for each Lead Buyer. The Auction Thread isan individual process within the LMP Auction Manager subsystem that runsfor a defined amount of time, which may be different for each Lead,accepting all bids for the Lead during the timeframe.

Rather than simply doing a database query of the Buyer Campaigns todetermine the highest bidder or group of bidders and awarding the Leadbased on the database query results, the LMP Auction first queries theBuyer Campaigns that match the characteristics of the Lead to get theirbids for each level of sharing. There is a separate “Sharing Bid Thread”created for each level of sharing that has a bid in the system. Each ofthese individual Sharing Bid Threads manages the initial and subsequentbidding activity for the level of sharing for the Auction Thread.

The Auction Thread, through its Sharing Bid Threads allows Lead Buyersor Buyer Campaigns to place bids into the Auction Thread, where they areprocessed by the appropriate Sharing Bid thread and the Auction Thread.As changes to the Auction Thread occur, the Auction Thread sends outnotifications to all Campaigns that are participating in the auction,letting them know the current status of the auction and allowing them tosubmit new bids.

The benefit of this approach is that in addition to including bids fromCampaigns that qualify at the moment the Lead enters the LMP, theAuction Thread can accept qualifying bids that come into the systemafter the Lead has entered the LMP. For example, if a Buyer Campaign hada budget limit that had been exceeded when a Lead initially entered theLMP, but the Buyer increased the budget before the Auction Processended, the Budget Manager within the LMP would be able to submit the bidto the Auction Thread. As another example, if a Lead Buyer added a newBuying Campaign or modifies an existing Buying Campaign so that itmatches the characteristics of Leads with active Auction Threads, theCampaign Manager would apply the bids from these Campaigns to thoseactive Auction Threads rather than waiting until a new Lead entered thesystem to apply the Campaign bid to a Lead.

In addition, this method of running the auction allows for “Ping BuyingCampaigns”, where the Lead Buyer's bid is set through a server-to-serverprocess. This method also allows for live bidding by Buyers forindividual Leads with active Auction Threads. This active method ofmanaging the auction of a Lead gives the system the flexibility to takeadvantage of the entire window of time over which a Lead can be sold toincrease the number of bids that can be applied.

The system can be set up to use a different model from the Threaded“Listener” model described herein. The LMP system encompasses any systemthat creates a process that runs for a duration of time and can use acombination of 1.) Queries from static “Purchase Order” or “Bidding”objects that specify lead characteristics, prices offered and budgets;2.) Changes to the Purchase Order or Bidding objects that change theirparticipation status in currently active auctions; 3.) Changes to thebudget position of the buyer's account; 4.) server-to-server requestsfor a bid on a specific Lead; or 5.) Live bids entered into the systemby Buyers as shown in FIG. 6.

FIG. 7 illustrates the auction logic when implemented in software usingone or more objects and database tables. The auction logic may includean auctioneer object 100 for each auction thread and a bidder object 102wherein the auctioneer object tracks the bidder threads for theparticular auction thread and the bids offered by those bidders and canperform the functions of attaching (adding) a new bidder thread,detaching (removing) a bidder or changing the auction parameters orarguments. Each bidder thread object is associated with each bid levelin existence in an auction and can perform the functions of update (wheninformation about a bid at that level is updated), GetCampaigns to findqualifying seller campaigns that might have valid bids that might applyto the bidder thread, CalcPrice to calculate the aggregate price to beoffered by the bidder thread for a particular auction, LogResults tostore the results for the current auction for the bidder thread andPlaceBid to place a bid into the auction thread. The auction logic mayalso include an auction thread 104, a bidder thread 106 and a campaignagent 108. The auction thread item may be an object associated with aparticular lead that performs the functions of attach, detach oronchange and, when the auction is completed/closed, the auction threaditem determines the winning bid(s), returns the results (or nocoverage), returns the Buyer campaign identifier(s) and release budgetsthat were not associated with the winning bids. The bidder thread item106 is associated with a particular auction thread item and can performupdates and place bids for a particular amount. The system function flowof a typical auction is shown in FIG. 8.

FIG. 9 illustrates an example of a lead rating workflow implemented inthe lead marketplace system shown in FIG. 1. The LMP system runs a LeadRating subsystem to track the quality of Leads that are Posted undereach Selling Campaign. There is a current rating, associated with eachSelling Campaign (“Campaign Rating”), that is inherited by each Leadthat is Pinged or Posted as part of the Selling Campaign. The CampaignRating value is calculated as shown in FIG. 9 using three data points;1.) the rating by the Lead Buyer(s), 2.) the results of a validationcheck against a database of customer information, and 3.) a survey ofthe end customer. The LMP Lead Rating subsystem performs an algorithm tocalculate the Campaign Rating, which is the weighted average rating ofLeads that have been sold associated with each Selling Campaign. TheCampaign Rating is sent through the Auctioneer Thread to the AuctionThread when a Lead is auctioned, enabling the LMP to allow Buyers tospecify the minimum quality rating of Leads they would like to buy.

FIG. 10 illustrates an example of a buyer information workflowimplemented in the lead marketplace system shown in FIG. 1 and FIG. 11illustrates an example of a seller information workflow implemented inthe lead marketplace system shown in FIG. 1. These diagrams show theworkflow for a buyer to enter information into the LMP system and theworkflow for the seller to enter information into the LMP system,respectively.

FIG. 12 illustrates an example of a buying campaign management workflowimplemented in the lead marketplace system shown in FIG. 1 and FIG. 13illustrates an example of a selling campaign management workflowimplemented in the lead marketplace system shown in FIG. 1.

Thus, a lead marketplace system and method are provided that include astorage system that stores a plurality of Leads wherein each Lead iselectronic contact and transactional information that provides someonewith an opportunity to sell a good or service to a prospective customerand a Lead Seller unit that stores one or more selling campaigns for oneor more Lead Sellers, each selling campaign enabling the association ofone or more Leads to be sold in the lead marketplace system and a LeadBuyer unit that stores one or more buying campaigns for one or more LeadBuyers, each buying campaign including one or more parameters specifyingthe characteristics of leads to be bought by the Lead Buyer associatedwith the buying campaign. Each buying campaign has one or more bidsassociated with the buying campaign wherein each bid specifies theamount offered by the Lead Buyer for a specific level of sharing. Thebuying campaign also has one or more budgets associated with each buyingcampaign wherein each budget specifies a maximum dollar amount to spendand/or the maximum number of leads to purchase in a specified timeframe.The lead marketplace system and method also has an auction manager thatperforms a time period limited auction for each Lead entered into thesystem for sale by a Lead Seller to one or more Lead Buyers and theauction manager has a lead auction thread for each Lead that sets a timeperiod for an auction of each Lead associated with the selling campaign,that accepts bids from the one or more Lead Buyers through severalmeans, and that sells leads associated with the selling campaign to thegroup of Lead Buyers that generates the greatest amount of money. Thelead marketplace system and method also has a budget manager thatensures that individual Lead Buyers or individual buying campaigns donot have their bids applied to lead auctions if so doing would riskexceeding one or more budget rules entered by the Lead Buyer, acampaigns manager that submits bids associated with each buying campaignto each relevant lead being sold, and a bids manager that submits bidsstored in buying campaigns, submitted in association with a buyingcampaign by a third-party system, or entered directly through acomputing device by a Lead buyer.

The lead auction thread of the lead marketplace system and method mayalso receive bids from one or more buying campaigns and receive livebids from one or more Lead Buyers. The one or more bids associated witheach buying campaign may have a sharing parameter that specifies a levelof sharing the leads being sought in the buying campaign, with orwithout a system limit on the numerical sharing level that can beassigned to the bid. The one or more bids of each buying campaign mayalso specify a bid price representing the amount of money the Lead Buyeris willing to spend. Alternatively, the bid price can be requested atthe time of the auction of an individual lead through a process termed a“Ping” in which a server-to-server request is sent to a computer deviceunder the Lead Buyer's control, such request including information aboutthe location and type of the lead, and a response is sent back to thesystem with a dollar amount the Lead Buyer is willing to bid. Theresponse in the “Ping” may also include the sharing level of the bidreturned. The response in the “Ping” also may include multiple bids,each bid with a different sharing level specified. In the leadmarketplace system and method, a process in the system receives the“Ping” response and places the bid into the appropriate sharing levelthread.

The one or more budgets in the lead marketplace system and method may beassociated with each buying campaign or each Lead Buyer account and thebudgets include a maximum monetary amount and/or a maximum number ofleads, for the leads to be bought within a specified timeframe. Theselling campaign unit may include a mapping unit that associates fieldsin a third party Lead into fields in the storage system of the leadmarketplace system and method.

In the lead marketplace system and method, the Lead Auction unit createsan individual auction process for each lead that is submitted to thesystem with a defined start and stop time during which bids from one ormore buyers are evaluated to determine how to sell the lead. Eachindividual auction process creates one or more sharing bid threads toaccept bids for different levels of sharing, such sharing bid threads tobe used to create and update an aggregate bid amount for the particularlevel of sharing to be compared against the aggregate bid amounts of theother sharing levels in determining how to sell the lead. The multipleauction processes can enter bids on behalf of a Lead Buyer into one ormore active sharing bid threads and the bids are included in adetermination of how to sell the lead. The multiple auction processesare able to enter bids on behalf of a campaign manager that acceptschanges to buying campaigns, a budget manager that monitors changes tobudgets based on time passing or other buying campaign activity, or abid manager that accepts live bids from Lead Buyers through a userinterface device.

In the lead marketplace system and method, the selling campaigns areassigned a current rating value by the system, such rating value beingcalculated through a combination of data collected from a results of acomparison of lead information to a customer information database, therating values assigned to the lead by the Lead Buyers, and the resultsof a survey of the customer who entered the lead. The current ratingvalue associated with a selling campaign is inherited by each lead as itis entered into the system for auction and sale, such rating then beingused for the purpose of determining which buying campaigns qualify forbidding on the lead.

FIG. 14 illustrates a ping campaign duplication detection processworkflow of the implemented in the lead marketplace system shown inFIG. 1. The ping campaign duplicate detection process may be carriedout, in one embodiment, by the LMP lead unit 30 shown in FIG. 1 (for theincoming leads) and by the third party Buyer Ping Unit 38 (for the leadsbeing offered to buyers). Those portions of the LMP lead unit 30 and thethird party Buyer Ping Unit 38 may be collectively a lead duplicationdetection unit. In the workflow, a third-party lead seller stores leadsin a table 1 in a lead record 2 with a format 19 that contains a leadidentifier, consumer information, transaction information, and the datethe lead was entered by the consumer. The Seller Lead Unit 32 createsand stores in the Seller Ping Table 4 a Ping Record 5 with a format 21that contains a ping identifier, lead identifier, de-dupe consumerinformation, transaction information, and the date entered. The de-dupeconsumer information may be one or more pieces of information that allowthe system to uniquely identify each ping campaign. For example, thede-dupe consumer information may be two or more pieces of informationabout the consumer (zip code and last four digits of social securitynumber, etc.), a hash of the relevant consumer information, a globallyunique identifier, etc.

The Seller Lead Unit 32 also creates and transmits over a network a LeadPing Record 6 containing the Lead Ping information 21 to the LMP LeadUnit 30, which creates its own version of the Lead Ping Record 8. Foreach lead ping, the LMP Lead Unit 30 searches the LMP Lead Table 60using the Transaction Info, De-Dupe Consumer Info, and Date Entered tosee if there is a LMP Lead Record with matching information. If there isan LMP lead record 8 already in the LMP system with matchinginformation, the Lead Ping is identified as being a duplicate to onealready entered in the system and the system handles it according to thebusiness rules for duplicate lead submissions. For example, there mightbe a rule that the duplicate leads will not be accepted into the systemand that an error message will be returned to the lead Seller, or theremight be a rule that duplicate leads will be accepted into the system,but not sold to the same Buyer as the initial Lead. If there is not anLMP lead record 8 already in the LMP system with matching information,then the LMP Lead Unit 30 can send the Lead Ping Record 8 to the LMPAuction Manager 36 for processing, at which time the LMP Auction Manager36 can create and send a Lead Ping Record 13 across a network to the3^(rd) Party Buyer Ping Unit 38. The 3^(rd) Party Buyer Ping Unit 38searches a Buyer Lead Table 15 using the Transaction Info, De-DupeConsumer Info, and Date Entered to see if there is a Buyer Lead Recordalready in the system with matching information. If there is a Buyerlead record already in the system with matching information, the LeadPing is identified as being a duplicate to one already entered into thesystem and the system handles it according to the business rules forduplicate lead submissions. For example, there might be a rule that theduplicate leads will not be accepted into the system and that an errormessage will be returned to the lead Seller, or there might be a rulethat duplicate leads will be accepted into the system, but not sold tothe same Buyer as the initial Lead. If there is not a Buyer lead recordalready in the system with matching information, then the 3^(rd) PartyBuyer Ping Unit 38 responds to the LMP Auction Manager 36 with a LeadPing Response 17 in a Lead Ping Response Format 23 containing the PingID, Response, and Bid Amount which indicates interest in buying theLead. Based on the results of the auction, the LMP Lead Unit 30 returnsa Lead Ping Response 18 to the Seller Lead Unit 32. In this manner, theLMP system described above checks for duplicate leads when entering intothe LMP system (a new lead being entered into the system) as well asenabling Buyers to check for duplicate leads within their systems priorto bidding for a lead. The proper handling of duplicate leads (eitherincoming or outgoing leads) is important to prevent the unintentionalsale the same lead multiple times to the same buyer, and to maintain theappropriate level of sharing for the lead.

In summary, the system is able to detect duplicate leads and then allowthe system to handle the duplicate lead in one or more different manners(the business rules referred to above.) For example, the situation maybe that the duplicate lead occurs the first time that the lead came inand the system already sold two legs so the system may be programmed todecide that even though it is a duplicate, the system will accept it andsell one leg to a different buyer.

Furthermore, once the system detects a duplicate lead, the system mayalso include a zipback concept that identifies any other buyers of alead so that a third party does not sell the lead to the same person.

While the foregoing has been with reference to a particular embodimentof the invention, it will be appreciated by those skilled in the artthat changes in this embodiment may be made without departing from theprinciples and spirit of the invention, the scope of which is defined bythe appended claims.

1. A lead marketplace system, comprising: a storage system that stores aplurality of leads wherein each lead is an electronic contact andtransactional information that provides an opportunity to sell a good orservice to a prospective customer; a Lead Seller unit that stores one ormore selling campaigns for one or more Lead Sellers, each sellingcampaign enabling the association of one or more leads to be sold in thelead marketplace system; a Lead Buyer unit that stores one or morebuying campaigns for one or more Lead Buyers, each buying campaignincluding one or more parameters specifying the characteristics of leadsto be bought by the Lead Buyer associated with the buying campaign; anauction manager that performs a time period limited auction for eachlead stored in the storage system for sale by a Lead Seller to one ormore Lead Buyers; and the auction manager further comprising a leadauction thread for each lead that sets a time period for an auction ofeach leads associated with the selling campaign, that accepts bids fromthe one or more Lead Buyers and that sells the leads associated with theselling campaign to a group of Lead Buyers that generate the greatestamount of money.
 2. The system of claim 1, wherein the lead auctionthread receives bids from one or more buying campaigns.
 3. The system ofclaim 1, wherein the lead auction thread receives live bids from one ormore Lead Buyers.
 4. The system of claim 1, wherein each buying campaignfurther comprises one or more bids wherein each bid has a sharingparameter that specifies a level of sharing of the leads being sought inthe buying campaign.
 5. The system of claim 1, wherein each buyingcampaign further comprises one or more budgets wherein each budget has amaximum monetary amount for the leads to be bought within a specifiedtimeframe by the Lead Buyer associated with the buying campaign.
 6. Thesystem of claim 1, wherein each buying campaign further comprises one ormore budgets wherein each budget has a maximum number of leads to bebought within a specified timeframe by the Lead Buyer associated withthe buying campaign.
 7. The system of claim 1, wherein each Lead Buyerhas one or more budgets associated with the Lead Buyer wherein eachbudget has a total amount of money budgeted for leads within a specifiedtimeframe by the Lead Buyer.
 8. The system of claim 1, wherein each LeadBuyer has one or more budgets associated with the Lead Buyer whereineach budget has a maximum number of leads to be bought by the Lead Buyerwithin a specified timeframe.
 9. The system of claim 1, wherein the LeadSeller unit further comprises a mapping unit that maps fields in a thirdparty lead into fields in the storage system.
 10. The system of claim 1,wherein the lead seller unit further comprising a unit for generating aselling campaign.
 11. The system of claim 10, wherein the lead buyerunit further comprising a unit for generating a buying campaign.
 12. Thesystem of claim 1, wherein the storage system further comprises adatabase server.
 13. The system of claim 12, wherein the Lead Sellerunit, Lead Buyer unit and auction manager each further comprise one ormore server computers.
 14. The system of claim 1 further comprising alead duplicate detection unit that compares a new lead to the leadsstored in the storage system to determine if the new lead is aduplicate.
 15. The system of claim 14, wherein each lead furthercomprises a de-dupe identifier that uniquely identifies each lead andwherein the lead duplicate detection unit compares the de-dupeidentifier of the new lead to the de-dupe identifier for each lead inthe storage system to detect duplicate leads.
 16. The system of claim15, wherein the de-dupe identifier for each lead further comprises oneof a set of information about an entity associated with each lead, aglobally unique identifier and a hash of the electronic contact andtransactional information of each lead.
 17. The system of claim 14,wherein the lead duplicate detection unit further comprises a portion ofthe lead seller unit and a portion of the lead buyer unit.
 18. Thesystem of claim 1 further comprising a lead duplicate detection unitthat compares a lead being sent to a Lead Buyer with a set of leadsalready purchased by the Lead Buyer to determine if the sent lead is aduplicate.
 19. The system of claim 18, wherein each lead furthercomprises a de-dupe identifier that uniquely identifies each lead andwherein the lead duplicate detection unit compares the de-dupeidentifier of the new lead to the de-dupe identifier for each lead inthe storage system to detect duplicate leads.
 20. The system of claim19, wherein the de-dupe identifier for each lead further comprises oneof a set of information about an entity associated with each lead, aglobally unique identifier and a hash of the electronic contact andtransactional information of each lead.
 21. The system of claim 1,wherein the lead auction thread accepts a bid with changed parametersfor a particular lead wherein the changed parameters affect the timeperiod limited auction for a particular lead being carried out by thelead auction thread.
 22. A computer implemented lead marketplace methodthat stores a plurality of leads wherein each lead is an electroniccontact and transactional information that provides an opportunity tosell a good or service to a prospective customer, the method comprising:storing, in a storage system, one or more selling campaigns for one ormore Lead Sellers, each selling campaign enabling the association of oneor more leads to be sold in the lead marketplace system; storing one ormore buying campaigns for one or more Lead Buyers, each buying campaignincluding one or more parameters specifying the characteristics of leadsto be bought by the Lead Buyer associated with the buying campaign;performing a time period limited auction for each lead for sale by aLead Seller to one or more Lead Buyers; and wherein performing a timeperiod limited auction further comprises setting a time period for anauction of each leads associated with the selling campaign, acceptingbids from the one or more Lead Buyers and selling the leads associatedwith the selling campaign to a group of Lead Buyers that generate thegreatest amount of money.
 23. The method of claim 22, wherein acceptingthe bids further comprises receiving bids from one or more buyingcampaigns.
 24. The method of claim 22, wherein accepting the bidsfurther comprises receiving live bids from one or more Lead Buyers. 25.The method of claim 22, wherein each buying campaign further comprisesone or more bids wherein each bid has a sharing parameter that specifiesa level of sharing of the leads being sought in the buying campaign. 26.The method of claim 22, wherein each buying campaign further comprisesone or more budgets wherein each budget has a maximum monetary amountfor the leads to be bought within a specified timeframe by the LeadBuyer associated with the buying campaign.
 27. The method of claim 22,wherein each buying campaign further comprises one or more budgetswherein each budget has a maximum number of leads to be bought within aspecified timeframe by the Lead Buyer associated with the buyingcampaign.
 28. The method of claim 22, wherein each Lead Buyer has one ormore budgets associated with the Lead Buyer wherein each budget has atotal amount of money budgeted for leads within a specified timeframe bythe Lead Buyer.
 29. The method of claim 22, wherein each Lead Buyer hasone or more budgets associated with the Lead Buyer wherein each budgethas a maximum number of leads to be bought by the Lead Buyer within aspecified timeframe.
 30. The method of claim 22 further comprisingmapping fields in a third party lead into fields in the storage system.31. The method of claim 22 further comprising generating a sellingcampaign.
 32. The method of claim 31 further comprising generating abuying campaign.
 33. The method of claim 22 further comprisingidentifying duplicate leads by comparing a new lead to the leads storedin the storage system to determine if the new lead is a duplicate. 34.The method of claim 33, wherein each lead further comprises a de-dupeidentifier that uniquely identifies each lead and wherein the leadduplicate detection unit compares the de-dupe identifier of the new leadto the de-dupe identifier for each lead in the storage system to detectduplicate leads.
 35. The method of claim 34, wherein the de-dupeidentifier for each lead further comprises one of a set of informationabout an entity associated with each lead, a globally unique identifierand a hash of the electronic contact and transactional information ofeach lead.
 36. The method of claim 22 further comprising a leadduplicate detection unit that compares a lead being sent to a Lead Buyerwith a set of leads already purchased by the Lead Buyer to determine ifthe sent lead is a duplicate.
 37. The method of claim 36, wherein eachlead further comprises a de-dupe identifier that uniquely identifieseach lead and wherein the lead duplicate detection unit compares thede-dupe identifier of the new lead to the de-dupe identifier for eachlead in the storage system to detect duplicate leads.
 38. The method ofclaim 37, wherein the de-dupe identifier for each lead further comprisesone of a set of information about an entity associated with each lead, aglobally unique identifier and a hash of the electronic contact andtransactional information of each lead.
 39. The method of claim 22,wherein performing a time period limited auction further comprisesaccepting a bid with changed parameters for a particular lead andadjusting the time period limited auction for a particular lead beingcarried out by the lead auction thread.